Though Trover is a photo-sharing app, it is organized for exploration, not just for browsing images. Don’t think Instagram; Trover’s roots within Seattle-based travel startup Travelpost are apparent. Trover shows what’s around you to help you explore the place.

Sponsor

You can use Trover to browse for images nearby, but you can also expand the radius around you to see more and more content. As you expand, an icon changes from a pedestrian to a biker to a car to intuitively indicate distances. You can also “jump-to” faraway places and explore at a distance.

Location is the main feature, but you can also narrow down discoveries chronologically, and you can browse and follow other user profiles, too. There’s a re-share button to send interesting discoveries to your followers, along with a note. There’s also a ‘Featured’ tab that shows curated highlights.

This app is more reminiscent of Banjo than Instagram or other sites that are primarily about creating content. Trover, like, Banjo, is about exploring. Banjo pulls in social media posts from all around you and lets you browse them on a map, much as Trover does for photos. These social apps are more about connecting with the world (and people) around you than about broadcasting to the whole Web.

The app is available for iPhone users, with an Android version coming in the fall. Anyone can log in and view content on trover.com. Existing users can post Trover invitations via Facebook or Twitter.

Discuss

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Though Trover is a photo-sharing app, it is organized for exploration, not just for browsing images. Don’t think Instagram; Trover’s roots within Seattle-based travel startup Travelpost are apparent. Trover shows what’s around you to help you explore the place.

Sponsor

You can use Trover to browse for images nearby, but you can also expand the radius around you to see more and more content. As you expand, an icon changes from a pedestrian to a biker to a car to intuitively indicate distances. You can also “jump-to” faraway places and explore at a distance.

Location is the main feature, but you can also narrow down discoveries chronologically, and you can browse and follow other user profiles, too. There’s a re-share button to send interesting discoveries to your followers, along with a note. There’s also a ‘Featured’ tab that shows curated highlights.

This app is more reminiscent of Banjo than Instagram or other sites that are primarily about creating content. Trover, like, Banjo, is about exploring. Banjo pulls in social media posts from all around you and lets you browse them on a map, much as Trover does for photos. These social apps are more about connecting with the world (and people) around you than about broadcasting to the whole Web.

The app is available for iPhone users, with an Android version coming in the fall. Anyone can log in and view content on trover.com. Existing users can post Trover invitations via Facebook or Twitter.

Discuss

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For this Sites of the Week we have selected some great sites such as Kayako and ThingBuzz. Also we’re featuring an amazing site called myEdu, and much, much more! As usual we would love to hear from you, keep sending your suggestions to us and we will be more than happy to feature your site.

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You can keep sending me your suggestions via Twitter twitter.com/FabianoMe or twitter.com/abduzeedo, and include #abdz_sites in the message.

DESIGN / CSS

Sparx IT Solutions – sparxitsolutions.com

We are expertise in rendering professional web solutions and high-end software development services to clients overseas. The Sparx IT Solutions made a sincere, genuine and humble effort to achieve success in global market.

Warner Pacific – warnerpacific.edu

At Warner Pacific, we talk a lot about being “in the city, for the city.” What does that mean, exactly? It’s a deceptively simple summary of all that Warner Pacific represents—a rigorous liberal arts education in an urban setting, coupled with a service-oriented, faith-based approach to community outreach and personal transformation.

APP / WEB APP

SFpark – sfpark.org

A project of San Francisco Municipal Transportaion Authority (SFMTA), SFpark uses innovative technology and advanced pricing strategies to help San Francisco drivers circle less and live more.

Kayako – kayako.com

Help Desk Software and Live Chat Software by Kayako. Improve support, increase sales. Hosted or Download, from just $29 per month. Free trial.

COMMUNITY / PORTAL / STORE

ThingBuzz – thingbuzz.com

Show social media posts about your website on your website.

myEdu – myedu.com

Professor ratings and 225 million official GPA records for professors. See friends class schedule, your degree courses, calculate and raise your average GPA -in one place.

STUDIO / PORTFOLIO / BLOG

En Garde – engarde.at

Inch authentic designs printed material and tangible identities, with the strong claim of independence. Our experimental design is reflected in the standards of editorial design, illustration, analog works as well as the staging areas. (Via Google Translate)

Derek Chan – derek-chan.com

I grew up in Hong Kong before relocating to New York, where I’m currently a Senior year student at Parsons the New School for Design. I’m expected to graduate in May 2011 with a BFA in Communication Design.

TEMPLATES

Saving Grace – woothemes.com

Saving Grace is a theme specifically for charities & non-profit organizations. Designed by Matthew Smith, the theme features stunning typography and attention to detail. We’ve also included donation functionality so you can accept donations through PayPal and let visitors see the progress of donations in the theme.

Kaboodle – woothemes.com

Kaboodle is a trendy, pixel-perfect, customizable business theme with a clean layout, featured home page slider, and custom post types for testimonials, portfolio items, mini-features and slides. Every new business can do with a spiffy design like this!

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Income from operations was $2.8 million compared to a net loss from operations of ($3.2) million in Q409. Net income was $1.0 million compared to a net loss of ($3.9) million in Q409. Cash flows from operations was $20.9 million, up 95% compared to $10.7 million in Q409.

"We are pleased to report strong financial results in our first earnings release as a public company,” said CEO Richard Rosenblatt. “Our record performance in the fourth quarter was driven by our ability to attract and engage consumers while delivering great results for our growing base of advertisers."

"In the fourth quarter, new brand advertisers helped fuel 36% year-over-year growth in revenue per thousand page views, or RPM, on our owned and operated properties, while our audience grew organically to more than 100 million unique monthly visitors worldwide (as measured by comScore)," he added. "Increased engagement and audience growth during the quarter from emerging channels, particularly Facebook and mobile, highlight just some of the large opportunities for our business model."

“Ongoing revenue growth from high-quality, long-lived content published in prior years, compounded with new discretionary content investments, positions Demand Media for significant growth in 2011,” said President and CFO Charles Hilliard. 

Highlights from the quarter, as indicated by the press release:

- Content & Media Revenue was $46.8 million, up 46% compared to $32.1 million in Q409.

- Investment in Intangible Assets was $12.8 million, up 58% compared to $8.1 million n Q409.

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Under the chilling tagline, “Humanity is an endangered species, it just doesn’t know it yet,” the Discovery Channel’s latest social media campaign uses Facebook to show you how a virulent disease could affect your life and those of your friends and family members.

This eerily realistic simulation uses a Facebook-like interface that is unique for each person who visits.

The website created by this application shows a fake newsfeed featuring your friends’ names and profile images alongside status updates, links, pictures, and comments about the disease, government-mandated quarantine zones, emergency services availability (or lack thereof) and much more. You’ll even see some watchable, UGC-style videos created by Discovery in the feed.

The updates contain all the trappings of real social media posts — ribbon-bedecked avatars, hashtags, how-to posts — but with a scary, sad, survivalist twist.

You can see pages showing updates for various stages of the disease running its course through your community, including “outbreak” and “pandemic.”

It’s creepy, it’s realistic, and it really personalizes the idea that disease — virulent, pandemic disease — is a reality for many people around the world at many points in world history. We never really know when it’s going to happen again.

Of course, Discovery’s campaign is a plug for a new show; The Colony will debut July 27 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. It’s a reality show that explores the fascinating and dramatic realities of a somewhat esoteric subject — epidemiology — that actually affects many communities, particularly in the developing world.

In the show, seven non-actor volunteers are taken to an area without clean water and power, ostensibly after a devastating pandemic. Supplies are short and rivals abound. It’s like a slightly more realistic version of a zombie flick.

The app comes from NYC-based agency Campfire; this shop has done an excellent job marrying a smart creative concept with a great social media interaction opportunity.

What do you think of this campaign and the show itself? Let us know in the comments.

More About: Campfire, discovery, facebook marketing, social media marketing, television, the colony

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• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
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Social media marketing is an essential tool for any business. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are among the most popular sites regularly visited on the internet and can generate large numbers of visitors and new sales leads.

Many businesses are already utilizing social media marketing as part of their ongoing business strategy, but a large percentage of these are not aware of the essentials required to fully maximize social media to its full potential.

Here are 5 important criteria that need to be addressed in order to run a successful social media campaign.

1. Search Engine Rank Awareness

Social media profiles now make regular appearances in search engine listings. The major search engines are placing greater importance on these profiles as they tend to possess regularly updated topical content and provide quality information that search engine users are looking for.

Any social media profile should be created with search engine placement in mind. Ensure that relevant keywords are placed in titles, and content, and that any links use keywords (located within the anchor text). Brand names should be clearly visible to increase the likelihood of search engines displaying a social media profile for brand-related search queries.

Having a social media profile appear in SERP listings will increase traffic to that profile and could subsequently lead to additional traffic to the main business website via that profile.

2. Additional Site Traffic from Social Media Posts

Search engines now index and display individual social media posts in their search results. The search engines consider these posts topical, relevant and useful to their users – 3 of the main criteria search engines look for when ranking a page (or submission).

Posting quality submissions on social media sites and including links back to a main website, or webpage, within these posts can seriously increase website traffic – if the posts are indexed and displayed in search engine listings.

Social media bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Slashdot have been known to drive thousands of visitors to websites. Submit blog posts – and website content – to these sites and there is a good chance that these submissions will capture the interest of readers and result in increased website traffic.

3. Use Social Media for SEO-Based Links

Links back to a main website can be placed in most of the social media profiles. These are useful links from high authority websites and good quality backlinks influence where a website is ranked within a search engine.

Many social media bookmarking sites now apply the NOFOLLOW attribute to links due to abuse, but there are still some major platforms that continue to use the DOFOLLOW attribute. At the time of writing, these social bookmarking sites still allow DOFOLLOW links:

• FriendFeed
• Furl
• Slashdot
• Digg
• Mixx

Even if a bookmarking site applies the NOFOLLOW attribute, links within posts can still pay dividends. Regardless of their SEO-based backlink power, people will still follow these links back to a main site and this means increased traffic and greater site visibility.

4. Target Specific Markets

The simplicity of creating a social media profile allows for the creation of multiple campaigns. A good business strategy should run a main social media profile and then look to create smaller, laser-targeted profiles that cater for very specific niche markets related to the main business interest.

If a business sells a wide variety of products, it should look to create individual profiles that target the different categories of products sold. This tactic allows the business to concentrate on each subset of product, as well as the potential customers searching for these specific products, or type of products. By breaking down social media campaigns, a business can provide relevant, topical information that caters for very specific individuals.

Where other businesses try to capture all potential buyers in one huge net and can only offer generic information to a wide scope of readers about the entire range of their products – the clever business, with their niche market profiles, will reach out to each subset and be able to offer them exactly what they are searching for.

5. Improved Brand Recognition

Many businesses fail to realize the importance of social media profiles when it comes to increasing brand recognition. These social media platforms have millions of daily visitors and provide an unequalled resource for rapidly promoting a brand, or product.

Having a main website ranked high in a search engine for that particular brand name is great – as long as enough people are performing search queries using that specific brand-name keyword. Social media provide an easier solution for promoting brand recognition and this factor should be forefront in any social media strategy.

Make sure the brand is clearly visible in a profile – include it in the profile title and bio; promote the brand discreetly in sporadic posts and if there is a brand-related business logo, this should be placed on the main profile page.

It has been suggested that a person needs to see, or hear, a brand name seven times before they consider becoming a customer. Social media offers a business the best solution for reaching the largest potential audience.

By utilizing social media marketing and concentrating on these 5 important criteria, any business can potentially increase website traffic, sales leads and easily reach targeted customer bases. Social media marketing is starting to become very competitive, but not everyone has learned to optimize their campaigns and fully utilize the power of social media marketing. The business that learns to adapt its strategies and play to the strengths of social media is the one that jumps ahead of the competition.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

5 Must-Do Strategies for Dominating Social Media Marketing

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Tumblr is set to become the blogging tool of 2010 with its massive growth, yet still many people don’t fully understand what Tumblr does, or how it works. If you’ve ever tried to start a blog, but found yourself struggling to find the time, Tumblr is something your definitely going to want to take a look at.

What is tumblr?

Put simply, Tumblr is a service that does exactly what WordPress does for blogging, but for microblogging, or tumbleblog’s instead. To fully understand what Tumblr does, you first need to understand what these so-called tumbleblog’s actually are.

A tumblelog is a variation of a blog, that favors short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging. Common post formats found on tumbleblogs include links, photos, quotes, dialogues, and video. Unlike blogs, this format is frequently used to share the author’s creations, discoveries, or experiences without providing a commentary. – Wikipedia

What does this mean? Well basically, Tumblr fills the gap between Twitter, where people tweet resources, images, and thoughts, and traditional blogging platforms, like WordPress where each post is a proper article. Instead, Tumblr works with seven types of post; text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio and video, and it handles them all very well.

Why is Tumblr becoming increasingly popular?

According to Tumblr statistic’s, in the last six months, Tumblr has grown from around 300M monthly page views, to over 1 Billion in February 2010; a massive growth for any product, and it speaks for itself really. A product doesn’t grow at such a rapid rate, if people aren’t enjoying using it.

Easy to update

The biggest reason behind Tumblr’s growing support, is it’s vast number of social features, and it’s ease of use. For a start, Tumblr make it extremely offer for you to post to your blog, even if you can’t access your homepage yourself. Here are some of the clever ways Tumblr makes it possible for you to update your tumbleblog:

• Text your blog updates from any mobile phone
• Email your updates via one of the most sophisticated email publishing platform available.
• A Bookmarklet allows you to post anything and everything you come across while browsing the web.
• Post via AIM by messaging TumblrBot.
• Phone your TumblrBlog, and leave voice posts.
• Automatically post from any other site or profile.
• Use the official Tumblr iPhone app to easily update your blog.
• Third Party App’s expand your options even further.

3rd Party Applications

As well as the fantastic free iPhone app that is available officially from Tumblr, you also have access to a multitude of applications for the iPhone, Web, Desktop’s, Mobile’s, Widget’s and Browser’s. They are all filed away tidily in an official Tumblr app directory.

Social Network Integration

Definitely high up on the list of reasons for Tumblr’s acceptance has been its solid two-way integration with other social media, and networking services. Part of its automatic posting from other sites come from major names such as Digg, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, but it doesn’t stop there. As well as having the ability to automatically pull in your content live from these sites, you can also send information back. Facebook is a prime example with its ability to show your activity on Tumblr on your Facebook wall, keeping all your friends up to date with what your blogging and activity.

Other notable features

Other than those already mentioned, Tumblr also focus’ on those important, but small things that you need.

• Easily add any analytics tracking code you want to your tumbleblog
• Tubmlr is optimised for Google in everything from the site slugs, to the sitemap
• Built in privacy allows you to restrict specific posts, or your whole blog to certain people
• The ability to use your own custom domains on your tumbleblog
• FeedBurner support allows you to see important RSS feed stats
• It’s free, and you don’t need to pay for hosting, or storage!
• You have the ability to create your own custom theme.

What is the backend of Tumblr like?

First off, Tumblr wouldn’t be where it was if it wasn’t for its easy to use backend user interface. The interface is split into two sections; the dashboard, where your’s and other peoples content meet you, and customisation, where you control all sorts of aspects of your tumbleblog.

Dashboard

Posting any of the seven different type’s of content from your dashboard is a breeze, with visual buttons, and a clean design. The backend goes on to keep you up-to-date with all the Tumbleblogs you are following, in a very Twitter like manner, keeping it clean and easy to read. For a look at how the dashboard looks, click on the image below.

Customisation

Customisation though, is a whole different kettle of fish. It is basically a dummy page of your current theme, with one default entry in each of the seven post categories. A menu bar at the top of the page allows you to make many important, and useful changes and decisions that affect your tumbleblog.

The menu provides a multitude of options;

• Info - This allows you to specify the basic information of your blog; things like your blog title, description, and avatar picture. The notable option here though, is the ability to change your tumbleblog url instantly, or even use your own personal domain allowing you to use a domain without the tumblr.com suffix.
• Theme – This menu item is fairly self-explanatory; it allows you to select a theme from Tumblr’s “theme garden” to use for your blog. There are over 300 of them, all for free, some of which are of an impressive quality. As well as using a premade theme though, you are given the option to use “custom html”, another way of saying your own custom-made theme, something we will go through in great detail at a later date.
• Appearance – This allows you to make quick changes to your current theme. Not every theme has appearance options, but the default Tumblr theme certainly does, and allows you to change things such as font’s, colour’s, and background images without touching any code; anther thing that makes Tumblr so popular for those that are not so comfortable delving into code.
• Pages – This allows you to create static pages, much like other blogging platforms such as wordpress. Pages come in three categories; Standard Layout, Custom Layout, and Redirect.
• Services – Already I have mentioned the great amount of social networking integration that Tumblr has, as well as its integration with other web services such as YouTube and Feedburner. Services allows you to pick and choose which of these services you want to use, and lets you connect all your accounts up.
• Community – This allows you to add, as the title dictates, a community element to your blog. There are to ways to do this. One is the creation of a page that allows your readers to ask you questions, and the other allows your users to contribute their own posts to your submission queue for approval by you.
• Advanced – The final menu item features further options for your blog that don’t really fit into the other categories. These are things like your timezone, url slug structure, privacy options, post’s per page, and so on.

As you change these options, especially your theme options, the dummy page below changes to mirror the choices you have made, allowing you to check how your blog will look, as you work.

Conclusion

Tumblr is a fantastic piece of kit, filling in that gap in the market between products such as wordpress that provide full blogs, social networking such as facebook, and status updating from Twitter, and it does it extremely well.  Tumblr is honestly a pleasure to work with. Simplicity makes the user interface effect and easy to use, and you never feel like there isn’t anything important missing, or out of your control. It makes blogging and sharing things you find on the internet a breeze, and most importantly, unlike Twitter, it does so visually. If you find yourself failing to keep a full blog up-to-date, and enjoy sharing the things you find, the there’s no easier way to do so than Tumblr, so give it a go.

Keep an eye here at 1stwebdesigner for more on Tumblr!

For those that do choose to start using Tumblr, or already do, then keep an eye here, because coming up are several articles that will increase your happiness with Tumblr, such as a roundup of fantastic themes, and more importantly learning how to create your own custom theme! For now, check out these 5 impressive tumbleblogs for inspiration to see what Tumblr is truly capable of.

Metalab

It’s the interwebs

Mark Jardine

Tmblg

Name that film

Hope you enjoyed this post – keep coming back for more!

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Details : free podcasting, video and photography theme, theme options admin panel, featured post or category section, easy media embed, sliding or static splash image on media posts, related posts, 8  independent widget areas, cformsII styles, wp-Pagenavi, wp-PostRatings, WP125 included.

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